The Ultimate Vegan Meatloaf With Gravy Recipe

Satisfy your meatloaf cravings with this easy vegan, gluten free version, complete with a speedy flavorful gravy and creamy mashed potato, all under 400 calories and under $1/£1 per serving.

This is a dish that will blow away your guests because it looks expensive and complicated.  

Little do they know it’s actually incredibly cheap and very easy to put this meal together. 

Although vegan meatloaf does take a fair while to bake in the oven, it’s very quick to put it together, and you will be able to use the cooking time to prepare the trimmings for this meal. 

I love to make restaurant-quality meals for a fraction of the price, and this recipe fits the bill perfectly. 

You can indulge in this hearty vegan meatloaf with added mashed potatoes, vegan cheesy broccoli, and homemade instant gravy on special occasions.  But there’s also nothing to stop you from making this meal every week if you fancy it.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• This complete meal including all of the trimmings costs just £0.77 or $0.92 which is very reasonable for such a high quality dish.
• This recipe and all recipes on my website are suitable for the special diets, vegan, plant based, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, free from refined sugar, and vegetarian.
• This recipe contains 390 calories per serving.
• This recipe contains 15g protein per serving.
• This recipe contains 5 mg of iron per serving.
• This recipe contains 15g of fiber per serving.
• This recipe is made from a combination of vegan protein, whole food sources of carbohydrates, vegetables, essential fats, and ingredients that make the dish extremely tasty.
• This recipe takes just 15 minutes of active preparation time and 55 minutes of cooking time.  You can use the cooking time to prepare the rest of the meal.
• This recipe is made extra tasty by the addition of creamy vegan gravy and fluffy mashed potatoes.
• I have simplified this recipe by limiting the number of ingredients and using everyday ingredients such as beans and oats.

Ingredients

Ingredient Substitutions

• Canned Beans: Replace the beans with any beans of your choice, chickpeas, or cooked lentils from a can.
• Tamari: Replace this with sea salt or vegan Worcestershire sauce.
• Onions: You can replace the onions with a vegetable of your choice in the same quantity.
• Mushrooms: You can replace the mushrooms with a vegetable of your choice in the same quantity.
• Garlic: You can omit the garlic or replace it with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
• Sea salt: You can replace it with any salt of your choice or 1 tablespoon of tamari.
• Vegetable stock powder: You can replace it with a different stock powder or stock cube of your choice.
• Italian seasoning: You can replace it with any dried herbs of your choice.
• Tomato puree/paste: You can replace the tomato paste with tomato ketchup or a condiment of your choice with a similar consistency. 
• Maple syrup: You can replace it with any sweetener of your choice or more tomato paste.
• Red wine vinegar: You can replace it with any vinegar of your choice.
• Potatoes: You could replace the potatoes with more vegetables and lower the calories.
• Milk: You can use any type of milk or replace the milk with water.
• Broccoli: You can replace the broccoli with cauliflower or any vegetables of your choice.
• Gluten-free flour: This recipe should work well with any flour except nut and coconut flours. 
• Sausage seasoning: If you don’t want to make my homemade seasoning, you can use the following seasonings instead: ½ teaspoon sage, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and a pinch of black pepper
• Vegan butter: You can replace the butter for any butter of your choice or use olive oil or a different oil such as coconut oil.  Oil won’t be as tasty but will still work.
• Tamari: Replace this with sea salt or vegan Worcestershire sauce.  If you’re not gluten free you can use soy sauce.
• Water: Replace this with vegetable broth.

The Structure Of A Plant Based Plate

Each of the recipes I create fits into my Plant Plate System.  This system incorporates 5 food groups into every meal. 

The 5 food groups are 1) Plant Protein, 2), Leaves, Fruit, And Veg, 3) Aesthetic Additions, 4) Nutrient Packed Carbohydrates, and 5) Taste

This recipe is a complete meal because it contains all 5 components of my Plant Plate and contains around 400 calories per meal.

The diagram below helps you see the 5 different components of a Plant-Based Plate.

Click here to discover more about my Plant Plate System and some of the benefits of eating this way.

Here’s how this recipe is structured according to the Plant Plate System.  

Adding each ingredient to the following categories helps you to easily see how to make substitutions.  It also lets you know the exact reason why the ingredient is in the recipe. 

Plant-Based Protein

• Black Beans

Leaves, Fruit & Veg 

• Onions, mushrooms, broccoli

Aesthetic Additions

• You can add more tomato paste to top the meatloaf if you want to increase the redness before serving

Nutrient Packed Carbohydrates

• Potatoes

Taste 

• Tamari
• Garlic
• Sea salt
• Vegetable stock powder
• Italian seasoning
• Tomato paste
• Maple syrup
• Vinegar
• Milk
• Sausage seasoning
• Vegan butter

The oats, flaxseed, and flour are used as binders so need to be substituted for something similar.

Recommended Equipment

Here are the main kitchen equipment tools I have used to create this recipe.

How To Make This Recipe

Here are the steps to make each of the components of this vegan meatloaf with gravy.

Vegan Meatloaf

• Process all the ingredients for the vegan meatloaf in a food processor.
• Press down the ingredients into a lined loaf pan.
• Mix the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl and spread it across the top of the loaf and bake.
• Once done, let the meatloaf cool before serving.

Mashed Potato

• Boil the potatoes in a pan of boiling water until soft.
• Mash the potatoes with vegan milk and salt.

Vegetables

• Boil the broccoli in a pan of boiling water until it is soft enough to easily pork with a fork.

Gravy

• Melt the butter in a pan.
• Mix the flour, salt, stock and seasoning together in a bowl and whisk in with the melted butter.
• Add water and whisk well.
• Lastly add the tamari.

Side Dishes

If you want to replace the mashed potatoes, you can use one of the following carbohydrate side dishes instead:

• Boiled baby potatoes in skins
• Boiled large white potatoes without skins
• White potato fries
• Sweet potato fries
• Baked white potato
• Baked sweet potato
• White rice

For more options, see all of my best vegan, gluten-free carbs side dishes.

What To Serve With Meatloaf

Here are some of the side dishes that I recommend serving with Meatloaf:

• Easy Vegan Cheesy Broccoli
• Quick Gluten Free Vegan Gravy Recipe
• Mashed Potatoes

How To Serve Meatloaf

Cut the meatloaf into 4, and then cut each section in half.  Give each person 2 slices.

Serving Sizes

If you want to double this recipe to serve 8 people, you can fit double the meatloaf quantity in the same standard loaf pan.

How To Reduce The Calories

If you’d like to reduce the calories of this recipe even further, I suggest removing the carbohydrate side dish and adding extra vegetables.

How To Increase The Calories

If you would like to increase the calories for anybody who is going to be eating a serving of this recipe, I suggest you serve them a bigger portion of mashed potato.

How To Store Leftovers

This recipe keeps for up to 4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. It also freezes well for up to 3 months.  Defrost it before using it. Reheat it by warming it up gently in a pan.

More Cheap, Delicious Vegan Recipes

This recipe is part of my Cheap gourmet vegan dinner series.

If you’re looking for more high quality, cheap vegan meals, check out some of my other recipes:

• 5 Minute Vegan Tortilla Pizza
• Homemade Vegan Crunchwrap Recipe
• Quick Vegan Meatballs And Spaghetti With Tomato Sauce
• 5 Minute One Pot Vegan Chili
• Easy Vegan Oven Baked Risotto

You can see all of my vegan dinner recipes here.

Recipe

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